The Flash Drive of Champions: Backgrounds
by Rediamond
Summary: A boy and his friends try to capture a wild Pokemon in Viridian forest, a crime lord's daughter learns to deal with a crippling condition and the unwanted attention and assassins her family name brings along, and a teenager in Pewter deals with love and rejection. A set of related one-shots.


Contrary to the staff's belief, the General Director of Indigo Camp had far more duties than unclogging the toilets. He just did that because, well, truth be told he didn't actually have a lot to do. His duties were mostly either administrative or not exercised daily, like resolving staff conflicts, presiding over senior staff meetings, or scheduling lunch breaks. After years of hard work on staff, he hated the boredom of his post and sought out little things to do in camp. Like unclog the toilets.

Taking a quick break from the disgusting nature of his current work, Hunter Ellington stepped outside the stall he was currently working on. It was a sweltering July afternoon; he would have to remind the counselors to stop for water breaks periodically. But the Head Counselor had probably already done that. There wasn't anything for him to do after all. Except unclog the toilet; he could always do that. Turning back to his work, Hunter slammed the plunger down into the bowl, repeatedly thrusting in an attempt to defeat the stubborn blockage. How could anyone even do this? He had worked in the commissary before, and Hunter was pretty certain that they didn't give the participants anything that could possibly be causing this much of a problem.

Problems. Thoughts shifting, Hunter remembered the one piece of business he did have to take care of today. One of the few jobs he had remaining was to pick a successor. It turned out that it was also his hardest job. Indigo Camp was the centerpiece of the Campers organization, a youth-based group that taught children and teenagers about Pokémon, civics, and the outdoors. Aside from local troops and camps, the organization ran four large camps for the Campers who (theoretically) had the most potential to attend and hone their skills even further. Indigo was the centerpiece, named for the Plateau it was based on. In practice it was the most important because it attracted the most high-profile participants. Many of the rich and influential lived on the Plateau and quite a few of them had children. Because of this, Indigo Camp traditionally had the best staff and, to ensure quality; the next year's general director of Indigo could only be chosen from the other three camp's General Directors.

That was where Hunter's most pressing problem came in. Or second-most pressing. He was making progress on the toilet but swore with every passing minute that if it wasn't his salvation from boredom, Hunter Ellington would seek revenge for this monstrosity. Finally with one satisfying move the blockage cleared and water began to flow and the General Director went to get a hose to spray down the stall. Yes, now his main problem came in. Out of the three other General Directors one was retiring, one had a Napoleon complex that would shame the Corsican himself, and the third made his old Dungeons and Dragonite gamemaster look socially competent. When talking with other experienced staff about the decision, Hunter had received responses ranging from "Please, please, please don't go to college" to "Well, I guess Camp was nice while it lasted" to "Well, maybe we could have them hold a cage match. With any luck the winner would die of the injuries they sustained."

Blasting down the area, aware of a small group of participants walking by and giving him odd looks, he thought over his final decision. After meticulously reading the rules and guidelines for his job, Hunter had found no mention of the rule requiring he pick a successor from the other camps; it was merely a tradition. Violating traditions was dangerous in the organization. People liked knowing what to expect and many of the operating principles were founded in tradition rather than rules. If a leader rocked the boat, people would doubt their abilities and then all bets were off. But however unwilling he was to do it, Hunter really did not have other options. Putting the hose away, the General Director went to go talk to his chosen successor. After he changed his uniform. Looking over himself, he realized that would have to come first.

- .-. .. - -. - . .-. - .-. . .-. .- .. -. .. . .-.

Orion Rainier followed his boss into the door of the Director's office, feeling the noticeable shift in temperature. "Remind me how you got air conditioning?"

Hunter chuckled. "Hey, not my decision. That was the first Director's idea. Can't say I'm rushing to change it, though. No fighting tradition and all that."

"Yeah. It would really be a shame if you had to stand out in the heat like the rest of the staff."

"Hey, I worked in the sun for five years for a job that involves air conditioning and no work."

"Except cleaning toilets."

"Entirely voluntary. I didn't bring you here to criticize my office, anyway." Hunter leaned back into his seat, choosing his words carefully. "I want to discuss something important with you." Orion's silence was interpreted as approval. "So, who do you recommend to be the next general director?"

"Joshua's not coming back, right?" Hunter shook his head. "In guess I'd go with Heather. She's not really capable of running course, but at least the rest of senior staff can make up the difference. Tyler might lead to half the staff quitting."

"Do you really want to work under Heather?"

"I guess… no. Not really. But, hey, got to make the best of the situation here."

"My thoughts exactly. Which is why she will not be the next General Director–"

"–I thought you hated Tyler?"

"Allow me to finish. Yes, I hate Tyler. He should have never been in charge of anything and he will not be running Indigo. But I also won't let Heather do it."

A long silence ensued, only broken by Orion's confusion and curiosity. "So… who is going to run the course."

Hunter clasped his hands in an effort to appear calm. He hated breaking tradition and had no idea how the Program Director across from him would react. "Well, I've talked to the other senior staff. And, for the most part, we've agreed to offer the job to you."

Another silence. "Can you do that?"

"Fortunately, I am allowed to decide most of what I can and cannot do. The job was designed for people intelligent enough to respect tradition to keep camp running, and break it when tradition means that the camp would not run. Yes, I can do that. The question is if you are willing to step up."

"Um, I mean, thanks for the offer but, uh, I'm sort of unqualified. I've never run anything–"

"–Campfires. Games. Services."

"Yes, but that was borrowing authority from you."

"I don't recall having to step in at any point."

"You could have. Their respect of you kept them in line."

"No. Orion, I've had the entire upper staff come to me and ask to put you in charge for next year. The majority of the younger staff respects you, either personally or for your work. The campers love you. And, most importantly, you don't want the job. There's enough evidence in the history of the Campers to show that anyone who wants power is usually unfit to wield it. You've got respect. You've got the skill. If you want the camp to succeed, I recommend you take the job."

He hadn't meant to, but Hunter realized that he had been nearly yelling. Mew, what was the world coming to when he had to raise his voice to get someone to take a promotion. It did seem to have sufficiently intimidated Orion, though, so he guessed that it wasn't all bad. "Look, I'm sorry for yelling but this is serious. I could get Diana or Minos to take the job, but I'd rather go with you. I think you have more potential."

"The General Director basically lives on camp, right?"

Hunter smiled. "During the school year I spent basically all of my free time out at camp. Some Directors spend literally all their time here, some only pass by occasionally to make sure no one's dead. Like many other things, it's up for them to decide how they lead."

"How will Tyler and Heather react to this?"

"They'll hate you. At least, Tyler will. Heather will sort of awkwardly disagree with the decision. But they can't do anything– they have literally no power over the Indigo Director. You won't have much reason to deal with them outside of occasional meetings. It really won't matter at all."

Orion relaxed in his chair, an apologetic look creeping onto his face. "Well, I guess I'll accept then, if you really want me to."

"Good. I was expecting this would be much harder." Hunter laughed, and Orion joined in. "Nothing will be official until the end of training, in case you change your mind."

"Training?"

"Oh, right. Forgot that was a secret tradition. Every General Director of Indigo Camp since my participant year has had to read a story before formally taking the job. It's got some good insights into the purpose of course, as well as how leadership methods play out in practice. It's also not a bad read."

"Okay then. What story is it?"

Hunter reached into his desk drawer and pulled out a flash drive and a letter. "It's the story of '93, my participant year. It was the single worst management disaster in Camper history. The story's been heavily distorted, especially after Team Rocket's fell. But we have a first-person account of it, straight from the people most directly involved." He slid the two items across the table without pausing. "You probably don't know a whole lot about it, so I'm giving you this to read first. It's some background information compiled by the story's editor. It'll help you understand some things that might be confusing otherwise."

After thanking his boss and leaving the room, Orion slipped the drive into his pocket and opened the letter.

_To whom it may concern:_

_ Hi! The writers of the story kind of forgot to include some things, so I thought I'd slip them in. Should help you understand the story more. I also added a few scenes to the main drive to help give better context. The four stories on this drive detail the background of the narrators of the main one. I hope this helps,_

_-M_


End file.
